Equity Working Group

About

The Equity Working Group emerged from the recognition that energy burden is unequally distributed among black and brown people. Low-income, black, Latinx, low-income multifamily, and renter households are more likely to spend a higher percentage of their income on utility costs than their higher-income counterparts and significantly more than homeowners. The unjust energy burden is a result of policies such as discriminatory housing policy that have systematically disadvantaged black people and people of color. The Equity Working Group is currently developing an equity framework that clearly defines energy equity, justice, implicit and explicit bias, and individual, institutional, and structural oppression/racism. Through the EWG, EEFA strives to both understand and address the causes of racial injustice to better work hand-in-hand with the communities that are centered in our work.

Advisory Group

Margaret Garascia - Elevate Energy

Faith Graham - NEWHAB

Aja Taylor - Two Brown Girls Consulting Cooperative

Nicole Newman - Two Brown Girls Consulting Cooperative

Project Leads

Pamela Rivera - NRDC

Raymond A. Nevo - National Housing Trust

Initiative Goals

The Equity Working Group seeks to ensure that EEFA’s impact is both equitable and inclusionary.

Phase I: Training and Development. EWG organizes and hosts a series of organizational equity workshops that guide EEFA towards building a vocabulary and shared understanding of racial equity.

Phase II: Narrative Building. The EWG is principally responsible for providing the space for all EEFA members to develop and implement a racial equity lens.

Phase III: Tool Experimentation. EEFA recognizes that a racial equity lens is only as good as its implementation. We are currently working towards developing an impact assessment tool that can give insight into the ways our understanding of racial equity has shifted our work.

Initiative Activities

The Equity Working Group is currently working with Two Brown Girls to operationalize EEFA’s long-term commitment to equity in all forms. In our first year, we have provided a series of trainings to both EEFA and our sister network, NEWHAB, primarily serving to align our various organizations around an understanding of how our work impacts historically marginalized communities.

Featured resources related to this initiative

Lifting the High Energy Burden in America's Largest Cities: How Energy Efficiency Can Improve Low Income and Underserved Communities

Report

NEWHAB Equity Manifesto

Guide

NEWHAB Racial Equity Resources

Presentation

All resources on this initiative